Whispers In The Dark
by Lavenderpaw
Summary: Sometimes murderers perish permenately and then there are times they find backdoors.Sometimes people exist in other forms aside from physical and spiritual.Sometimes we hear whispers in the dark who warn us of danger.But do we choose to respond to them?


_Despite the lies that you're making  
Your love is mine for the taking  
My love is just waiting  
To turn your tears to roses_.

_I will be the one that's gonna hold you  
I will be the one that you run to  
My love is a burning, consuming fire_.

_No, you'll never be alone  
When darkness comes I'll light the night with stars  
Hear the whispers in the dark  
No, you'll never be alone_.

_Whispers in the dark_.

Jake walked down the lone corridor,the tan walls jutted out and the many doors that lead off to other people's dreams were there as always.It had been hard but eventually wonderment had won him out and he had used the dreamcharm again.

"This time I'm going to actually close the doors,"he joked to no one.There felt to be someone with him but Jake could sense physically that no one was around but him.He found that only the names of people he was associated with door's showed.

He hadn't seen a named door in the dream realm in which he hadn't known yet.

Fu Dog,Susan,89...the list of doors he passed went on.Rose's didn't,however.

"_Jake_."

The whisper caused him to whirl quickly and clench his fists,ready to take down whatever threatened him.Frowning at his own paranoia,Jake continued down to his own door.It would be just a quick trip and then he'd put the charm away for good.

He was getting on with his life and if he were to do so all traces of Rose had to be concealed away,as time now meant for him to do.The knob clasped under his hand.

"_Jake!_"

This time the whisper was shrill and even closer.It was feminine but undistinguishable at this point.Jake closed his eyes,took a breath and looked to see a door that stood behind him.It appeared normal,except that yellow light seeped under the door's line.

Keeping his eyes trained to this and not the name plate,Jake moved forward and to wooden paneled door.With his brow furrowed,he looked to the center and glared.

"You're safe now,"he said through gritted teeth."Leave me alone."

An 'R' caught his sight briefly as he turned to leave.Rotwood?Ronald from second period?He didn't care.It was over now.Had she not accepted that?For he sure had.

"_Save_..."The faint voice still whispered."_You have to save her,Jake_."

"What?"

He turned to gaze over his shoulder back at the door,confused.

"_She knows how it makes you feel and she's tried retrieving them back_."

Uncertainty filled him.The voice had no recognisable tone and yet it made his heart swell listening,tugged at a part of him that was still inclined to true love's beckoning.

"Rose?"

The voice neither confirmed nor denied his query."_Go inside the door,Jake_..."

In a small trance,he did as she commanded.His common sense was still there but he knew he wouldn't deny her.If she was still there somehow and wished to speak with him,he couldn't deny her.The tiny insides of the knob sounded and the door opened.

A narrow hallway connected off to the corridor.Jake hesitated a moment,would this just be a disappointment?Was his mind only playing tricks on him?Those questions were answerd by the slam of the door and walls lighting to life on both of his sides.

He couldn't tell what they were but they looked to be screens.As he started walking the ceiling went out from beaming a bright yellow and what stopped Jake cold in his tracks were scenes of his past life with Rose in order,sequencing from the beginning.

Automatically he turned to see Rose's current life with her family on the other.Flashs of her talking with kids he didn't know,her doing homework or helping out her mom with chores.Try as he might,Jake couldn't stop glancing back and forth at both lifes.

'Her memories still exist.'he thought gleefully.'My god,they look so real.'

His observation was true.The longer he concentrated,the more depth and dimension all these separate events got;to the point where all he had to do was walk forward.

"_Jake,hurry!_"Rose's faint voice urged him."_Run down the hall,she needs you_."

She?"Rose,I'm here.We can be together right now."

"Jake!"This new voice was an actual cry for help.

It wasn't Rose's,though.He noticed the hall was lighting up and the small silhouette of someone backed up against a wall made his breath catch in his throat.With his usual burst of blue light,Jake zipped past Rose's memories and toward the person in peril.

Coming to find it was the Huntsman cornering his sister into the wall with his staff.

"Just in time,American Dragon:Jake Long.I was beginning to wonder when you'd get here."he laughed,manicalness streaming in his pitch."I thought it'd be for an eternity."

"How do you know my name?"Jake demanded angrily."How did you come back?"

Another glance showed Haley was pinned to the wall by a net."Simple,"he turned to the teenage dragon,his entire uniform and skull helmet intact."Once I found proof of her betrayal,I ransacked her room and found an interesting little dream manipulater."

"The dreamcharm?"He gaped.

"Yes.It was the one I let her keep for her fourteenth birthday,I figured this was how she was contacting you and assembled the pieces for a third dreamcharm.Clever as it was I didn't have time to comb around the realm for myself until now,but I took it."

Jake multiplied a doppleganger behind him and locked elbows with it,shouting out a command in his mind for it to stay still.He could see from his peripheral vision Haley was growing weaker.The Huntsman drew closer and he felt startlement surge in him.

Both locked eyes as the cruel man grinned beneath his mask."I outwitted you both.It seemed she was on my side,didn't it?She's always been a sharp one,a pure reflection of me in every ascept for thirteen years.I thought I had found the perfect successor."

"Rose was nothing like you."

"You're right.There was too much compassion held behind those eyes of hers.Eyes I always hated looking at because of the innocence they were suppose to represent."

"How did you survive?!"

"I _didn't_ survive,you wretched dragon.I figured Huntsgirl would knock me out as she had last time,so I slipped the charm on my wrist so at least my dream self would live."

"Jake?"

They both turned to see the pink dragon with tears trailing down her cheeks,apology straining in her eyes."I'm sorry.I knew how sad you were without her,so I got the idea of borrowing Rose's old one from your room and coming back to find her memories."

He looked at her,touched."It's all right."

His arm was struck by a blast of green,numbness poured through out his side and the dragon had to grasp it.The doppleganger was then exposed and immediately flew out over Jake's head to attack the Huntsman,only to be blown up in midair by a one shot.

Weakness surged through him at losing the pint of energy and he collasped entirely.

The rough material of a boot slid against the scales behind his left ear,the only side of Jake that could still feel.Blackness swarmed at the edges of his vision,in the center he saw the puddle of tears from his sister.In this moment he willed Haley any happiness.

She had only gone here in the first place for his.

Applied pressure against that spot caused dizziness to form,the room to revovle under him and a wave of nausea to hit.The next time his vision was clear,Jake saw a bed of roses where the tears had been.Their deep,seductive scarlet cast a calming over him.

Jake saw that the Huntsman had turned to see why he was smiling at the floor.Lifting himself up on his one good claw,he grabbed the staff and jerked it from him.When the Huntsman tried to reach back down for it Jake slammed his tail over his skulled head.

"Hope that cracks you up."

At it split in half,the dragon limped over toward Haley and was about to rip the net off when he felt the Huntsman seize him by the ear roughly.Pain shot through out his neck and only lasted briefly as a ninja garbed person intercepted by tackling the Huntsman.

Jake freed Haley and the dragoness went to tuck herself under Jake's weak side."We have to get out of here Jake."she started to pull him but Jake distractedly resisted her.

"Rose."he said her name as she quickly ripped off the Huntsman's dream charm,threw it down and stomped on.The man vanished away without any sympathy on their parts.

Surprisingly,when she turned to him she shifted into her normal attired self."I'd love to see you again,Jake.But I can't.You see,I only stuck around long enough to warn you."

"I need you."His voice was barely a whisper."I love you."

"So does she."Rose smiled at the little girl.

Yellow light filled his eyes and only Haley's body under his assured him that he was still connected with the world.Suddenly,Rose moved forward with her hand out;eyes saddened yet holding determination.Jake shut his and felt air sweep across his cheek.

He snapped open his eyes."What was that?"

"I'm not flesh and bone,Jake."Rose told him gently."The Huntsman still had his dream body but I'm nothing more then just a figment of your imagination,I'm just a memory."

"Are you happy?"

She nodded."Knowing you are makes the old me happy."

With that knowledge and before the xanthous light consumed them all,Jake swooped around and with Haley's help he turned completely sideways so as to escape through the narrow,dark hall and then down into the regular corridor in the direction of an exit.

A pinpoint of silver light lay ahead of them.

"If you only you make it,make sure to never use loopholes to get out of problems and use a lot less hair gel or use one that doesn't make your head look like a hen's behind."

Jake frowned at Haley."And if only you make it,try making a A- for once in your life."

Chrome bands of illumination wrapped around them and the next second Jake blinked he was back in his room.His room was fresh with morning sunshine he saw as rose to his feet and still felt the prickles of fuzzy numbness wearing off.With it,came normalcy.

And a satisfaction that he now possessed all the answers to his questions.

The End.

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